( DAPHNE ROSALES )

ˏ 𓏧 𓏲 𓏲 𓏲 𓋒 𓏲 𓏲 𓏲 𓏲 𓏧 ˎ

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*𝐃𝐀𝐏𝐇𝐍𝐄 𝐃𝐈𝐃𝐍'𝐓 𝐄𝐗𝐏𝐄𝐂𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐁𝐄 𝐀𝐒𝐊𝐄𝐃 𝐅𝐎𝐑 once again that day but as she waited outside of cabin fifteen she knew something bad was going on. however she didn't worry much as she constantly found herself yawning and her eyes slightly drooping.

she could see jason and annabeth headed toward her and the wing of cabins in the southwest corner of the green. some were fancy, with glowing walls or blazing torches, but cabin fifteen was not so dramatic. it looked like an old-fashioned prairie house with mud walls and a rush roof. on the door hung a wreath of crimson flowers-red poppies.

"you think this is my parent's cabin?" he asked as he and annabeth stopped in front of daphne.

daphne laughed at this before annabeth said. "this is the cabin for hypnos, the god of sleep."

"then why-" jason began to ask before daphne cut him off holding a hand in front of his face.

"you've forgotten everything," she said. "if there's any god who can help us figure out memory loss, trust me it's hypnos."

inside, even though it was almost dinnertime, three kids were sound asleep under piles of covers. a warm fire crackled in the hearth. above the mantel hung a tree branch, each twig dripping white liquid into a collection of tin bowls.

daphne stuck her hand out to touch the white liquid and let it roll down her fingers before she clenched her hand and the liquid disappeared from sight. jason looking confused before going to touch it as well only being stopped as daphne grabbed his hand.

"don't think you'd wanna do that" she suggested before he looked at her silently questioning why she did "i'm immune to anything made from a liquid. well i used to be..." she muttered to herself

soft violin music played from somewhere. the air smelled like fresh laundry. the cabin was so cozy and peaceful that daphne's eyelids started to feel heavy. there were plenty of empty beds, all with feather pillows and fresh sheets and fluffy quilts and-annabeth nudged her. "snap out of it."

the latina looking at the blonde with a small scowl before straightening and standing taller trying to ignore all the comfy things around her.

"cabin fifteen does that to everyone," annabeth warned jason "if you ask me, this place is even more dangerous than the ares cabin . at least with ares, you can learn where the land mines are."

"land mines?" jason asked making daphne nod as annabeth approached clover.

"they find enjoyment in anything to do with war" she explained before annabeth yelled snapping the two's attention to her.

"clovis! wake up" clovis looked like a baby cow. he had a blond tuft of hair on a wedge-shaped head, with thick features and a thick neck. his body was stocky, but he had spindly little arms like he'd never lifted anything heavier than a pillow.

"clovis!" annabeth shook harder, then finally knocked on his forehead about six times.

"wh-wh-what?" clovis complained, sitting up and squinting. he yawned hugely, and annabeth, daphne and jason yawned too.

"stop that!" annabeth said. "we need your help."

"i was sleeping." the boy complained making daphne roll her eyes playfully.

"you're always sleeping." annabeth countered as the boy on the bed felt his eyes drooping again

"good night." before he could pass out, annabeth yanked his pillow off the bed causing clovis' head to bounce on the mattress

"that's not fair," clovis complained meekly. "give it back."

"first help us out," daphne said. "then you can sleep forever."

clovis sighed his breath smelling like warm milk. "fine. what?"

annabeth explained about jason's problem. every once in a while she'd snap her fingers under clovis's nose to keep him awake. clovis must have been really excited, because when annabeth was done, he didn't pass out. he actually stood and stretched, then blinked at jason. "so you don't remember anything, huh?"

"just impressions," jason said. feelings, like...."

"yes?" clovis and daphne said at the same time as they stared at jason intently.

"like i know i shouldn't be here. at this camp. i'm in danger. and i'm putting other people in danger" he said well discreetly looking down at daphne.

"hmm. close your eyes." clovis instructed

jason glanced down at daphne who was besides him, but she nodded reassuringly. jason was afraid he'd end up snoring in one of the bunks forever, but he closed his eyes. his thoughts became murky, as if he were sinking into a dark lake.

the next thing he knew, his eyes snapped open. he was sitting in a chair by the fire. clovis, daphne and annabeth knelt next to him. "-serious, all right," clovis was saying.

"what happened?" jason said. "how long-"

"just a few minutes," annabeth said. "but it was tense. you almost dissolved." she said solemnly making daphne grimace.

"usually," clovis said, "memories are lost for a good reason. they sink under the surface like dreams, and with a good sleep, i can bring them back. but this..."

"lethe?" annabeth asked.

"no," clovis said. "not even lethe."

"lethe?" jason asked before daphne pointed at the milky drops by the fireplace.

"the river lethe in the underworld. it dissolves your memories, wipes your mind clean permanently. that's the branch of a poplar tree from the underworld, dipped into the Lethe. it's the symbol of hypnos. trust me you never want to go there."

annabeth nodded. "percy and daphne went there once. percy told me it was powerful enough to wipe the mind of a titan." annabeth said before turning to daphne earning a nod of confirmation.

"as i said, not really immune anymore. except to lethe believe it or not" she said as if it were ironic, the substance now basically being apart of her.

"but... that's not my problem?" jason asked looking at clovis

"no," clovis agreed. "your mind wasn't wiped, and your memories weren't buried. they've been stolen." the fire crackled. drops of lethe water plinked into the tin cups on the mantel. one of the other hypnos campers muttered in his sleep-something about a duck.

"how's that happened?" daphne asked confused since she wasn't in the big house with the others when they found out it was hera who stole his memories.

"a god," clovis said. "only a god would have that kind of power."

"we know that," said jason. "it was juno. but how did she do it, and why?" daphne reminded herself how juno was hera and felt annoyance rise inside of her.

clovis scratched his neck. "juno?"

"he means hera," annabeth said. "for some reason, jason likes the roman names." daphne has studied upon the roman counterparts in her free time but had never became so infatuated with them that she renamed the greek counterparts.

she was half hispanic and half greek. that's the way it'd always been, her mother had raised her speaking spanish but always kept the girl educated on greek mythology which daphne didn't understand till she met her father.

"does that mean something?" jason asked

"hmm," clovis said , and this time jason and daphne realized he was snoring.

"clovis!" he yelled waking the sleeping boy up.

"what? what?" his eyes fluttered open. "we were talking about pillows, right? no, gods. i remember. greek and roman. sure, could be important."

"but they're the same gods," annabeth said. "just different names."

"not exactly" daphne started looking to jason and annabeth "only some gods are primarily roman. like janus, or pompona. but even the major greek gods-it's not just their names that changed when they moved to rome. their appearances changed. their attributes changed. they even had different personalities"

"but..." annabeth faltered. "okay, so maybe people saw them differently through the centuries. that doesn't change who they are."

"sure it does." clovis spoke up before daphne but began to doze off again making jason snap his fingers under his nose.

"coming, mother!" he yelped. "i mean... yeah, i'm awake. so, um, personalities. the gods change to reflect their host cultures. you know that, annabeth. i mean, these days, zeus likes tailored suits, reality television, and that chinese food place on east twenty-eighth street, right? it was the same in roman times, and the gods were roman almost as long as they were greek. it was a big empire, lasted for centuries. so of course their roman aspects are still a big part of their character."

"makes sense," Jason said.

annabeth shook her head, mystified. "but how do you know all this, daphne? clovis?"

"my mum kept me informed" daphne shrugged as though it were nothing "she wanted me to be prepared the day i was claimed since she didn't know if my dad was poseidon or neptune" she explained.

"i spend a lot of time dreaming. i see the gods there all the time-always shifting forms. dreams are fluid, you know. you can be in different places at once, always changing identities. it's a lot like being a god, actually. like recently, i dreamed i was watching a michael jackson concert, and then I was onstage with michael jackson, and we were singing this duet, and i could not remember the words for 'the girl is mine.' oh, man, it was so embarrassing, I-" the boy was cut off by daphne's laughs.

"clovis," annabeth interrupted over daphne's laughs "back to rome?"

"right, rome," clovis said. "so we call the gods by their greek names because that's their original form. but saying their roman aspects are exactly the same-that's not true. in rome, they became more warlike. they didn't mingle with mortals as much. they were harsher, more powerful-the gods of an empire."

"like the dark side of the gods?" annabeth asked.

"not necessarily ," daphne said. "they stood more for discipline, honor, strength-"

"good things, then," jason interrupted her. he for some reason, felt the need to speak up for the roman gods, though wasn't sure why it mattered to him. "i mean, discipline is important, right? that's what made rome last so long.

clovis gave him a curious look. "that's true. but the roman gods weren't very friendly. for instance, my dad, hypnos... he didn't do much except sleep in greek times. in roman times, they called him somnus. he liked killing people who didn't stay alert at their jobs. if they nodded of fat the wrong time, boom-they never woke up. he killed the helmsman of aeneas when they were sailing from troy."

"he was a nice guy" daphne said before remembering the main focus of the conversation "what i don't understand is what this has to do with jason though, clovis?"

"neither do I," clovis said. "but if hera took your memory, only she can give it back. and if I had to meet the queen of the gods, i'd hope she was more in a hera mood than a juno mood. can I go back to sleep now?"

daphne nodded with a soft smile at the boy before getting up to pick up a pillow and throwing it to clovis "thanks, clovis. see you at dinner."

"can I get room service?" the boy yawned and stumbled to his bunk. "i feel like-" he collapsed with his butt in the air and his face buried in pillow.

"won't he suffocate?" jason asked worriedly staring at the sleeping boy.

"he'll be fine," annabeth said. "but I'm beginning to think that you are in serious trouble."

                                              𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐥, facing a stone-lined fire pit. fifty or sixty kids filled the rows, clustered into groups under various banners.

jason sat next to daphne who was next to annabeth, leo was nearby, sitting with a bunch of burly-looking campers under a steel gray banner emblazoned with a hammer. standing in front of the fire, half a dozen campers with guitars and strange, old-fashioned harps-lyres-were jumping around, leading a song about pieces of armor, something about how their grandma got dressed for war. everybody was singing with them and making gestures for the pieces of armor and joking around. as the energy level got higher, the flames did too, turning from red to orange to gold.

finally the song ended with a lot of rowdy applause. "very nice! and a special welcome to our new arrivals. i am chiron, camp activities director, and i'm happy you have all arrived here alive and with most of your limbs attached. in a moment, i promise we'll get to the s'mores, but first-"

"what about capture the flag?" somebody yelled. grumbling broke out among some kids in armor, sitting under a red banner with the emblem of a boar's head.

daphne turned to look at the kids and found herself rolling her eyes at their antics, they always loved for some kind of trouble to break out. it's like they hadn't learnt what war caused them to lose.

"yes," the centaur said. "i know the ares cabin is anxious to return to the woods for our regular games."

"and kill people!" one of them shouted, daphne glaring at the kid.

"however," chiron said, "until the dragon is brought under control, that won't be possible. cabin nine, anything to report on that?"

he turned to leo's group. leo winked at daphne and shot her with a finger gun. the girl next to him, nyssa, stood uncomfortably. she wore an army jacket a lot like leo's, with her hair covered in a red bandanna. "we're working on it." more grumbling.

"how, nyssa?" an ares kid demanded which she ignored

"really hard," the girl said before sitting down to a lot of yelling and complaining, which caused the fire to sputter chaotically.

daphne found herself standing and bringing her fingers to her lips letting out a loud whistle which caused everyone to shut up "unless one of you can do it quicker, lay off" and with that she sat back down and recieved a smile from nyssa which she returned.

piper stared at the girl and then next to her where jason was looking at her dreamily, she didn't think daphne noticed or himself and felt her heart break a little.

"we will have to be patient," chiron said. "in the meantime, we have more pressing matters to discuss."

"percy?" someone asked. the fire dimmed even further, but no one needed the mood flames to sense the crowd's anxiety.

chiron gestured to annabeth. she took a deep breath and stood. "i I didn't find percy," she announced. her voice caught a little when she said his name. "he wasn't at the grand canyon like I thought. but we're not giving up. we've got teams everywhere. grover, tyson, nico, the hunters of artemis -everyone's out looking. we will find him. chiron's talking about something different. a new quest."

daphne frowned again she missed percy, she missed tyson. she missed her brothers. she also missed grover, her bestfriend and nico, her family. she felt like they made 5 steps forward to be pushed 10 steps back. jason noticed how she slightly slumped down and reached out to place a comforting hand on her knee, the boy sending her a small smile which she barely returned.

"it's the great prophecy, isn't it?" a girl called out, her voice very familiar to daphne's ears. everyone turned. the voice had come from a group in back, sitting under a rose-coloured banner with a dove emblem. they'd been chatting among themselves and not paying much attention until their leader stood up: drew.

daphne and everyone else looked surprised. it wasn't usual for drew to address the crowd very often.

"drew?" annabeth said. "what do you mean?" but daphne felt she slightly knew

"well, come on." drew spread her hands like the truth was obvious. "olympus is closed. percy's disappeared. hera sends you a vision and you come back with three new demigods in one day. i mean, something weird is going on. the great prophecy has started, right?"

daphne found herself turning to find rachel among the crowd and stared at the girl, everyone else doing the exact same

"well?" drew called down. "you're the oracle. has it started or not?" rachel's eyes looked scary in the firelight. she stepped forward calmly and addressed the camp.

"yes," she said. "the great prophecy has begun." and then pandemonium broke out.

daphne had dreaded this day for as long as she could remember, well since the day she had first heard it. the kids of camp half-blood never seemed to catch a break. her hands found her hair and she stared at the ground trying to think how they'd make it through this alive.

piper caught jason's eye. he mouthed, "you all right?" she nodded and managed a smile, but then looked away once seeing daphne next to him. it was too painful seeing him and not being with him.

when the talking finally subsided, rachel took another step toward the audience, and fifty-plus demigods leaned away from her, as if one skinny redheaded mortal was more intimidating than all of them put together.

"for those of you who have not heard it," rachel said, "the great prophecy was my first prediction. it arrived in august. it goes like this: eight half-bloods shall answer the call. to storm or fire the world must fall-"

jason shoots to his feet causing his thigh to brush daphne's. his eyes looked wild, like he'd just been tasered even rachel seemed caught off guard. "j-jason?" she said. "what's-"

"ut cum spiritu postrema sacramentum dejuremus," he chanted. "et hostes ornamenta addent ad ianuam necem."

an uneasy silence settled on the group. daphne and some of the campers knew latin like it was their native tongue and others knew bits and pieces trying to piece together what the boy said.

"you just... finished the prophecy," rachel stammered. "-an oath to keep with a final breath/and foes bear arms to the doors of death. how did you-"

"i know those lines." jason winced and put his hands to his temples. "i don't know how, but I know that prophecy."

"in latin, no less," drew called out. "handsome and smart." her words making piper roll her yes and daphne to smile to herself. the campfire turnt to a nervous shade of green causing daphne's stomach to spin

jason sat down, looking embarrassed, but daphne put a hand on his knee and gave it a reassuring squeeze. piper felt a pang of jealousy. it should have been her next to him, comforting him.

rachel still looked a little shaken. she glanced back at chiron for guidance, but the centaur stood grim and silent, as if he were watching a play he couldn't interrupt-a tragedy that ended with a lot of people dead onstage.

"well," rachel said, trying to regain her composure. "so, yeah, that's the great prophecy. we hoped it might not happen for years, but I fear it's starting now. i can't give you proof. It's just a feeling. and like drew said, some weird stuff is happening. the eight demigods, whoever they are, have not been gathered yet. i get the feeling some are here tonight. some are not here."

daphne knew she were one of them, she'd known since the day she heard it. her, percy and annabeth were all involved and she hated the universe for it. the people closest to her and herself could never catch a break.

"i'm here! oh...were you calling roll?" clovis yelled making everyone turn to him suddenly.

"go back to sleep, clovis," someone yelled, making a lot of people laughed, daphne smiling to the best of her ability.

"anyway," rachel continued, "we don't know what the great prophecy means . we don't know what challenge the demigods will face, but since the first great prophecy predicted the titan war, we can guess the second great prophecy will predict something at least that bad."

"or worse," chiron murmured lowly but everyone heard ad everyone felt dread seep over them as the campfire turnt purple.

"what we do know," rachel said, "is that the first phase has begun. a major problem has arisen, and we need a quest to solve it. hera, the queen of the gods, has been taken." everyone was shocked into silence, then fifty demigods all started speaking at once.

daphne thought this was the best news they'd receive all year but she knew better than to assume hera's disappearance would result in a festivity.

chiron pounded his hoof again, but rachel still had to wait before she could get back their attention. she told them about the incident on the grand canyon skywalk-how gleeson hedge had sacrificed himself when the storm spirits attacked, and the spirits had warned it was only the beginning. they apparently served some great mistress who would destroy all demigods.

then rachel told them about piper passing out in hera's cabin. piper tried to keep a calm expression, even when she noticed drew in the back row, pantomiming a faint, and her friends giggling.  finally rachel told them about jason's vision in the living room of the big house

"jason," rachel said. "um... do you remember your last name?" the boy looked self-conscious, but he shook his head.

"we'll just call you jason, then," rachel said. "it's clear hera herself has issued you a quest." rachel paused, as if giving jason a chance to protest his destiny.

everyone's eyes were on him; there was so much pressure. he looked brave and determined. he set his jaw and nodded. "I agree."

"you must save hera to prevent a great evil," rachel continued. "some sort of king from rising. for reasons we don't yet understand, it must happen by the winter solstice, only four days from now."

"that's the council day of the gods," annabeth said. "if the gods don't already know hera's gone, they will definitely notice her absence by then. they'll probably break out fighting, accusing each other of taking her. that's what they usually do."

"i don't think it'd be that bad leaving her" daphne muttered to herself which jason and annabeth heard, the latter nodding their head in agreement and jason pondering to himself.

"the winter solstice," chiron spoke up, "is also the time of greatest darkness. the gods gather that day, as mortals always have, because there is strength in numbers. the solstice is a day when evil magic is strong. ancient magic, older than the gods. it is a day when things... stir."

the way he said it, stirring sounded absolutely sinister-like it should be a first-degree felony, not something you did to cookie dough.

"okay," daphne said, glaring at the centaur. "thank you, captain sunshine. whatever's going on, i agree with rachel. jason's been chosen to lead this quest, so-"

"why hasn't he been claimed?" somebody yelled from the ares cabin. "if he's so important-" cutting daphne off which made her scowl.

"he has been claimed," chiron announced. "long ago. jason, give them a demonstration." at first, jason didn't seem to understand. se stepped forward nervously. he looked amazing though, blond hair glowing in the firelight, his regal features like a roman statue's. he glanced at piper, and she nodded encouragingly. she mimicked flipping a coin.

daphne glanced between the two with a slight frown, although, they weren't dating it was obvious there was something there. she was a fool for thinking otherwise.

jason reached into his pocket. his coin flashed in the air, and when he caught it in his hand, he was holding a lance-a rod of gold about seven feet long, with a spear tip at one end, everyone gasped.

rachel, daphne and annabeth stepped back to avoid the point, which looked sharp as an ice pick. daphne found herself gasping as she realised what this meant.

"wasn't that-" annabeth hesitated. "i thought you had a sword."

"um, it came up tails, i think," jason said. "same coin, long-range weapon form."

"dude, I want one!" yelled somebody from ares cabin.

"better than clarisse's electric spear, lamer!" one of his brothers agreed making the girl jab him in the side harshly.

"electric," jason murmured, like that was a good idea. "back away." the three girls got the message. jason raised his javelin, and thunder broke open the sky. lightning arced down through the golden spear point and hit the campfire with the force of an artillery shell.

when the smoke cleared, and the ringing in daphne's ears subsided, the entire camp sat frozen in shock, half blind, covered in ashes, staring at the place where the fire had been. cinders rained down everywhere. a burning log had impaled itself a few inches from the sleeping kid clovis, who hadn't even stirred.

jason lowered his lance. "um... sorry." chiron brushed some burning coals out of his beard.

he grimaced as if his worst fears had been confirmed. "a little overkill, perhaps, but you've made your point. and I believe we know who your father is."

"jupiter," jason said. "i mean zeus. lord of the sky."

daphne silently found herself thanking the demi-god rules that the two still weren't technically related considering everything, but tried to keep her happiness low inside of her.

around her however everything broke into chaos, with dozens of people asking questions until annabeth raised her arms. "hold it!" she said. "how can he be the son of zeus? the big three... their pact not to have mortal kids. i thought percy and daph were the last... how could we not have known about him sooner?"

chiron didn't answer, but daphne got the feeling he knew. and the truth was not good.

"the important thing," rachel said, "is that jason's here now. he has a quest to fulfil, which means he will need his own prophecy." she closed her eyes and swooned. two campers rushed forward and caught her.  a third ran to the side of the amphitheatre and grabbed a bronze three-legged stool, like they'd been trained for this duty.

they eased rachel onto the stool in front of the ruined hearth. without the fire, the night was dark, but green mist started swirling around rachel's feet. when she opened her eyes, they were glowing. emerald smoke issued from her mouth. the voice that came out was raspy and ancient-the sound a snake would make if it could talk;

"child of lightning, beware the earth, 

the giants' revenge the eight shall birth, 

the ocean's foam, destined to come home

a sirens call for all will bawl long before

the forge, and dove shall break the cage, 

and death unleash through hera's rage."

on the last word, rachel collapsed, but her helpers were waiting to catch her. they carried her away from the hearth and laid her in the corner to rest.

"is that normal?" piper asked. then she realized she'd spoken into the silence, and everyone was looking at her. "I does she spew green smoke a lot?"

"gods, you're dense!" drew sneered. "she just issued a prophecy-jason's prophecy to save hera! why don't you just-"

"drew," daphne snapped in the girls defence "piper asked a fair question. there's definitely something wrong with the prophecy. if breaking hera's cage unleashes her rage and causes a bunch of death, why would we free her? it might be a trap, maybe hera will turn on her rescuers. she's never been kind to us anyway"

jason rose. "i don't have much choice. hera took my memory. i need it back. besides, we can't just not help the queen of the heavens if she's in trouble."

nyssa stood up and spoke out "maybe. but you should listen to daphne. hera can be vengeful. she threw her own son-our dad-down a mountain just because he was ugly."

"real ugly," snickered someone from aphrodite.

"shut up!" nyssa growled. "anyway, we've also got to think -why beware the earth? and what's the giants' revenge? what are we dealing with here that's powerful enough to kidnap the queen of the heavens?"

annabeth took a deep breath. "it's jason's quest," she announced, "so it's jason's choice. obviously, he's the child of lightning. according to tradition, he may choose any two companions. but in this case, three"

someone from the hermes cabin yelled, "well, you, obviously, annabeth. you've got the most experience."

"no, travis," annabeth said. "first off, i'm not helping hera. every time i've tried, she's deceived me, or it's come back to bite me later. forget it. no way. secondly, I'm leaving first thing in the morning to find percy."

daphne turned to annabeth confused considering the girl hadn't told her about this, she knew annabeth could feel her stare as the blonde tried ignoring her eyes.

"it's connected," piper blurted out, not sure how she got the courage. "you know that's true, don't you? this whole business, your boyfriend's disappearance-it's all connected."

"how?" demanded drew. "if you're so smart, how?" piper tried to form an answer, but she couldn't.

annabeth saved her. "you may be right, piper. If this is connected, i'll find out from the other end-by searching for percy. as i said, I'm not about to rush off to rescue hera, even if her disappearance sets the rest of the olympian's fighting again. but there's another reason I can't go. the prophecy says otherwise."

"it says who I pick," jason agreed. "the forge, the siren and dove shall break the cage. the forge is the symbol of vul-hephaestus." he corrects himself. under the cabin nine banner, nyssa's shoulders slumped, like she'd just been given a heavy anvil to carry.

"if you have to beware the earth," she said, "you should avoid traveling overland. you'll need air transport. the flying chariot's broken," nyssa continued, "and the pegasi, we're using them to search for percy. but maybe hephaestus cabin can help figure out something else to help. with jake incapacitated, i'm senior camper. i can volunteer for the quest." she didn't sound enthusiastic.

then leo stood up. he'd been so quiet "it's me," he said. his cabinmates stirred. several tried to pull him back to his seat, but leo resisted. "no, it's me. i know it is. i've got an idea for the transportation problem. let me try. i can fix this!"

jason studied him for a moment then he smiled. "we started this together, leo. seems only right you come along. you find us a ride, you're in."

"yes!" leo pumped his fist.

"it'll be dangerous," nyssa warned him. "hardship, monsters, terrible suffering. possibly none of you will come back alive."

"oh." suddenly leo didn't look so excited. then he remembered everyone was watching. "i mean - oh, cool! suffering? i love suffering! let's do this."

annabeth nodded. "next was, the siren-" she stopped speaking as she realised what she said, the whole camp knowing what this meant.

daphne stood reluctantly before sighing out loud. she was the only daughter of poseidon and the only girl who had any connections to the sirens. their blood ran in her veins "me" she said with mock happiness.

"you can't go" annabeth suddenly detested as she turnt to the girl, jason stepping back so the two could look at each other.

daphne frowned slightly before grabbing the blonde's hands "you find percy and i fulfil my destiny. i'll come home" she promised the girl as she squeezed her hand. annabeth reluctantly nodding before turning to jason once more.

the whole camp with their emotions running high that daphne was about to go on a quest again, the girl's life had been on the line multiple times and it just seemed to keep happening. she was a big part of the camp, she was the heart of camp half-blood.

"next. jason, the dove meaning-" annabeth was cut off as a voice from aphrodite's cabin spoke up.

"oh, absolutely!" drew was on her feet and flashing jason a smile. "the dove is aphrodite. everybody knows that. i am totally yours." in more ways than one everyone thought.

piper's hands clenched. she stepped forward. "no."

drew rolled her eyes. "oh, please, dumpster girl. back off."

"i had the vision of hera; not you. i have to do this." piper continued arguing

"anyone can have a vision," drew said. "you were just at the right place at the right time." she turned to jason. "look, fighting is all fine, i suppose. and people who build things..." she looked at leo in disdain. "well, i suppose someone has to get their hands dirty. but you need charm on your side. i can be very persuasive. i could help a lot."

daphne and the campers started murmuring about how drew was pretty persuasive. even chiron was scratching his beard, like drew's participation suddenly made sense to him.

"well..." annabeth said. "given the wording of the prophecy-" daphne knew it was drew's charm speak but she was her bestfriend after all.

"no!" piper's own voice sounded strange in her ears-more insistent, richer in tone. "i'm supposed to go." then the weirdest thing happened. everyone started nodding, muttering that hmm, piper's point of view made sense too. drew looked around, incredulous. even some of her own campers were nodding.

"get over it!" drew snapped at the crowd. "what can piper do?" piper tried to respond, but her confidence started to wane.

"well," drew said smugly, "i guess that settles it." suddenly there was collective gasp. everyone stared at piper like she'd just exploded.

"what?" she demanded. she looked above her, but there was no burning symbol like the one that appeared over leo. then she looked down and yelped.

she was adorned in a beautiful white sleeveless gown that went down to her ankles, with a v-neck so low it was totally embarrassing. delicate gold armbands circled her biceps. an intricate necklace of amber, coral, and gold flowers glittered on her chest

daphne was most definitely sure she had a girl crush now and didn't necessarily mind how jason was staring at piper because she was sure she was staring at her the exact same way.

a stunned annabeth pointed at piper's dagger, which was now oiled and gleaming, hanging at her side on a golden cord. piper didn't want to draw it. she was afraid of what she would see. but her curiosity won out. she unsheathed katoptris and stared at her reflection in the polished metal blade. her hair was perfect: lush and long and chocolate brown, braided with gold ribbons down one side so it fell across her shoulder. she even wore makeup, better than piper would ever know how to do herself-subtle touches that made her lips cherry red and brought out all the different colours in her eyes.

"beautiful," jason exclaimed. "piper, you, you're a knockout."

drew's face was full of horror and revulsion. "no!" she cried. "not possible!"

"this isn't me," piper protested. "i-don't understand."

chiron folded his front legs and bowed to her, and all the campers followed his example "hail, piper mclean," chiron announced gravely, as if he were speaking at her funeral. "daughter of aphrodite, lady of the doves, goddess of love."

cogs started turning in daphne's head and she now knew the prophecy was unavoidable.